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א בַּעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם.

With ten statements of the Holy One blessed be He, the world was created,as described at the beginning of the book of Genesis, e.g., “God said: Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3); “God said: Let there be a firmament” (Genesis 1:6).

Notes

This is referring to the number of times that “God said” is stated in the course of an act of Creation: “let there be light” (Genesis 1:3); “let there be a firmament” (Genesis 1:6); “let the water be gathered” (Genesis 1:9); “let the earth sprout grass” (Genesis 1:11); “let there be lights” (Genesis 1:14); “let the water swarm” (Genesis 1:20); “let the earth produce living creatures” (Genesis 1:24); “let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:27). Several opinions have been offered as to the identity of the remaining statements, from among the verses: “God said: Behold, I have given you all vegetation yielding seed” (Genesis 1:29); “The Lord God said…I will make for him a helper alongside him” (Genesis 2:18), among others (see Avot deRabbi Natan, version B, chap. 36; Bereshit Rabba 17:1; Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 3; Tikkunei Zohar 47). According to the Talmud, the tenth statement is the verse: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), in which the world in its entirety was created, before its completed form was crafted (see Rosh Hashana 32a).

וּמַה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר? וַהֲלֹא בְּמַאֲמָר אֶחָד יָכוֹל לְהִבָּרְאוֹת!

The question arises: What does all this detail teach, since, after all, couldn’t the world have been created with one statement,such as, “Let there be a world”?

Notes

This question related to the need to detail the acts of Creation, as, if the statement itself is the creative power, then each statement must include an infinite number of statements. For example, the statement that refers to creation of plants includes within it a detailed statement for each and every plant, as each plant is a creation in and of itself. Therefore, since the statements are in any case extremely general, there is room to ask, why were they mentioned and specified at all? Why was it not stated in general that God commanded the creation of the world, as it is stated in the verse: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts…For He spoke and it was done; He commanded, and it took form” (Psalms 33:6–9).

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